Justice Reform: Georgia’s Bipartisan Cinderella Story

Fiscally sound policies can be compassionate and humane. Just look at Georgia, where prison populations are down after initial justice reform.

At the Georgia Pacific Auditorium in Atlanta, a group of panelists will meet to discuss one area of American policy where smart thinking and bipartisanship are actually making things better. The topic is criminal justice reform. A lot is going right in the state of Georgia, and the panelists will explain why we should do more of it.

Assembled by the Charles Koch Institute, they come from across the political spectrum, with serious policy thinkers from both right and left-leaning nonprofit groups. Despite that, that the tone will likely be genial. Although their priorities and connections are very different, all of these panelists appreciate how much Americans have to gain by reforming a corrections system that is bloated, inefficient, and often needlessly destructive to American families and communities.

Georgia has distinguished itself as a front-runner on this issue. Although the overhaul of its justice system is far from complete, the Peach State has joined its Lone Star cousin as a success story that’s raising eyebrows across the nation. There’s something here for everybody to like. By reforming its corrections system, Georgia has already saved more than $20 million, with much bigger savings likely on the horizon. Its general inmate population is down, and juvenile detention rates have fallen even more. Through it all, crime rates have remained low.